Indian Railways reservation systems are fully computerized for storing and managing travelling itenary data of passengers. It keeps personal and journey details of each passenger. PNR means Passenger Name Record which is 10 digit alpha numeric unique number allotted to each passenger or group of passengers against their each booked ticket. First 3 digit numbers denotes zone of train according to Passenger Reservation System (PRS) and remaining 7 digit number is generated by the computer system arbitrarily. PNR System was first designed to use in airlines and sunit is used for railway department also to fulfill their requirement of maintaining passenger's travel record.
To book train ticket, passenger details, & itinerary details of persons who want to travel is required. Once all the information and credentials are accepted as per the terms and requirements only the PNR number will be allotted per each travel on confirmation of their booking. People check their PNR status, especially if it is in Waiting List. Since passenger is not eligible to travel with Waiting List (WL), so it is frequently required to check PNR status to know about ticket confirmation. In case of online booking of Train Ticket, if it is waitlisted then, your amount will be refunded automatically in next couple of days.
The intention of assigning the PNR number is that you can quote this PNR number anywhere like this railway portal to know about the status of it without approaching railway station for this every time.
How to check PNR Status
After you have booked train ticket for your travel a PNR number is assigned to it. Now you may want to check the PNR Status anytime from anywhere. It's not required to visit to railway station or travel agency where you booked the ticket. Instead, there are many ways to know about PNR status as follows:
Checking through IrctcPnr.org
You can check your IRCTC PNR status from this site.Just type your unique PNR number and click 'Submit' button. It will generate the current status of PNR number that you provided.
Calling Customer Care
This is second option. You can call Indian Railway Customer Care number which is Toll free 1800 11 1139. The IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) direct you to opt for right information against your PNR number. Customer care representatives can also help you in this regard if automated messages are not sufficient to your query
Send SMS to 139
Type "PNR 1234567890" and send to 139. Replace 1234567890 with your 10 Digit PNR No. You will get an SMS reply with required information about the PNR number that you had sent.
Go to Railway Station
Last way of PNR Status Check is by just visiting to nearest station and checking in PNR status machine. In the railway platform, there will be one or more self-operated machine for checking IRCTC PNR status. It will prompt you to enter PNR number. Once you enter that and click submit. Then it shows about your confirmation of seat and other details instantaneously. You can check any number of times about any PNR number.